Sokourinski - Niksic, BC Closed 2001

Replay Game

Sergei Sokourinski - John Niksic [E16]

BC Closed/Vancouver (1.4) 2001

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O Bxd2 8. Nbxd2 Capturing with the queen, followed by Nc3 is a bit more popular 8... d6 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. a3 a4?! With the knight on c3 this would be impossible, but here Black decided he can afford pushing the pawn to a4 to prevent b4. 11. Nb1!? Ra5 12. Nc3 Qa8 13. Nb5 Qb8 14. Rac1 O-O 15. Rfe1 Re8 16. e3 h6 17. h3 Ne4 17... Be4!? 18. Nd2

18... Nxd2 19. Bxb7! This move seems to be losing an exchange, but... 19... Nb3 20. Bc6 Nxc1 21. Bxd7 Re7 22. Bc6 Nb3 23. Nc3 Qa7

24. Nxa4 This is the point of White's exchange sacrifice: the 'a4' pawn falls, the knight on b3 is gone and what Black is left with is a small material advantage, disorganized pieces and the White 'a' pawn being a potential passer. The bishop on c6 is soon going to become a monster! 24... Rxa4 25. Qxb3 Ra5 26. Qc3 Rg5 27. h4 Rg6 28. b4 e5

29. d5! Of course, White wants to keep the position closed. The fact that the bishop then becomes blocked is not important as from c6 the bishop is still limiting the Black rook on e7 and is playing an important role in the advance of the 'a' pawn 29... f5 30. a4 Rf6 31. a5 g5 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. a6! Now the game is strategically won for White as the Black queen always has to guard the a6 pawn. 33... Rh6 33... Qxa6? loses a queen to 34. Ra1 34. b5 Reh7 35. Kf1 Kf7 36. Ke2 Rh8 37. Bd7 Rf6 38. Qd3 e4 39. Qd4

39... g4 With seconds left on his clock Black lets his position collapse However, after 39... Rh2 White is still winning. 40. Bxf5! Compare the queen on a7 to the queen on a5 in Jiganchine- Niksic. By coincidence, in both games White wins by delivering a tactical blow on f5 40... Rh2 41. Qxe4 Qa8 42. Be6+ Kf8 43. Rf1 Kg7 44. Qxg4+ Kh6 45. Bc8 Rf8 46. Qe6+ Kg7 47. Qe7+ Rf7 48. Qg5+ Kh8 49. Be6 Rf8 50. e4 Qe8 51. Ke3 c6 52. bxc6 Qb8 53. Qe7 b5 54. Qxf8+ Qxf8 55. c7 Qf6 56. c8=Q+ Kh7 57. Bf5+ Kh6 58. Qe6 1-0 [Roman Jiganchine]